It is a busy time for Niamh and her band at the moment, as they gear up for their first ever tour to India. A blitz visit that takes in three cities (Mumbai, Chennai and Kolcata) in 4 days, it is the perfect introduction for the band to India, and for the locals to authentic Irish music on what is a very important weekend in the Irish calendar.

This follows a lovely concert in Galicia organised by the Festival of Ortigueira. For the first time ever, they have started hosting concerts outside of the festival dates in the summer, and Niamh and her band were chosen to open the new monthly series. Following the very successful evening the band are looking forward to the next time they get to set foor in lovely Galicia again.

Niamh has also been in demand as an adjudicator for several competitions, and this year is the head judge for Gael Linn’s annual Siansa competition. This involved listening to all of the entries last December and reducing them down to 32 groups. Those groups chosen then attended workshops over four days in February where Niamh along with a second judge, Declan Masterson, gave advice and listened to live performances before choosing 8 finalists. These finalists will get to perform live in The National Concert Hall, Dublin, next month. This annual competition has produced some fantastic music and is conducted entirely through Irish.

More concerts are coming up for the band over the next few months so be sure to check back here soon!

Hi folks. It has been a little while since we posted, so we would like to wish everyone a belated Happy New Year!

2015 was another successful and busy year for Niamh which saw her performing all over the world, and meeting some fantastic people along the way. It ended with perhaps one of Niamh’s career highlights, that of performing with her band at the International Folk Festival, Dhaka, Bangladesh which had an attendance of over 120,000 people. This was Niamh’s first time performing in Bangladesh and it was an incredible honour and amazing experience, in particular as Niamh and her band were the only European band to perform there.

Apart from being a highly acclaimed performer and recording artist, Niamh is also much sought after as a judge, and has been busy traveling all over Ireland listening to young music groups who qualified for the semi-finals of the Siansa competition, run by Irish language and culture promoter Gael Linn. She will reprise her role as judge along with two others for the final which will take place in the National Concert Hall in April.

Niamh has also been busy recording for a new Irish language music programme, Mná an Cheoil, which will be broadcast in the near future. Covering women in Irish music, each of the six programmes will feature players of a particular instrument, performing and chatting and Niamh is delighted to be taking part in two of these.

Greetings from a weather battered Dublin where Niamh is gearing up for another busy year. After a little bit of well earned quiet time, the year kicks off with a concert in Ballyvourney’s beautiful Ionad Cultúrtha, in West Cork. This is followed by some work on a soon to be announced project, which we’re very excited about – more about that in the coming months. You will just have to check back soon to see!

In the meantime check out the tour page, where we have updated the gig listings. It includes an upcoming tour of Germany where Niamh, along with musicians from Armenia, Finland, Holland, Iceland and Germany, will tour as part of Akkordeonale, a World Accordion festival.

It has been a while since we posted news from the road, mostly due to the fact that it has been a hectic few months. May and June saw Niamh and the band tour China for the first time. This was a very successful tour and we are looking forward to returning in the near future. July, August and September took us to Spain, France, Portugal, Germany and England as well as Canada where we played to fantastic audiences everywhere. Niamh also visited Canada accompanied by Daoirí Farrell where she represented Ireland at the World Accordion Festival in Montmagny. This was a wonderful experience and Niamh met musicians from all over the world playing in many different styles.

The band has returned to Germany where we are on a 15 concert tour, which also takes in Switzerland for 2 concerts. This will be followed by a week in Texas where Niamh will be teaching at the O’Flaherty Retreat. For all of these and more dates, please check out the tour page.

Following a busy March which saw Niamh and her band tour New England, USA and Madrid and the Basque country in Spain, meeting lots of wonderful fans of Irish music along the way, April was a slightly quieter month, spent working on all the behind-the-scenes preparations ahead of a summer, jam packed with tours and travel.

Niamh still found time to take part in Gael Linn’s annual Siansa final in the NCH, Dublin, as one of three judges given the very hard task of picking a winning group out of 8 excellent acts from all over the country. A rundown of the acts can be found here. A fantastic experience, and an honour to be part of, it was also lovely to see the very strong talent coming up in the next generation.

Also in April, Niamh was one of six Irish musicians featured in the April/May edition of Cara, the in-flight magazine available on all Aer Lingus flights. The article, written by Irish Times Music Journalist, Siobhán Long, can be seen here, from page 44.

Next up is an exciting tour of North East China, covering the Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces. A first for the Niamh Ní Charra band, it is also one of the first tours by any Irish band to this region. Along with the usual line up of Niamh, Éamonn Galldubh, Dom Keogh and Paddy Kerr, and with regular addition, dancer Shane McAvinchey, the group will also be joined by another award winning dancer Paula Goulding for this special tour.

We will be keeping you posted from the road as usual through facebook and twitter, so if you haven’t already, give Niamh’s social media links, found on the left of this screen a follow!

In January Niamh was named “Female Musician of the Year, 2014″ in the Live Ireland Music Awards, compiled by renowned and respected music critic Bill Margeson. Since then, we are thrilled to announce two further accolades have been added. Firstly, her latest album “Cuz” was chosen as “Instrumental Album of the Year” in Chicago Irish American News’ annual awards, known as the TIRs (Tradition in Review).

The same album was also listed in online website Trad Connect’s Top Ten Album Covers of 2013. Commenting on the choice, the people at Trad Connect noted the following: “The overall package on Cuz is simply outstanding. It’s a 4-fold sleeve with a 24 page booklet. There is a detailed bio on Cuz and each track gets a page of notes. The embroidery theme continues throughout the inside sleeve as well as in the booklet. The cover photo of the embroidery is likewise impressive. The most detailed album package that has come through our door, ever.” TRAD CONNECT

Fresh from this news Niamh will be returning to New England, USA for the first time in five years for a blitz tour before heading to Spain. There she will be performing at a charity Gala organised by the Irish Embassy in Madrid, followed by a series of concerts in the Basque country. In what is often seen as a month long celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, Niamh will be bringing her unique style of Irish music and song to both countries. The tour dates have been updated so feel free to browse.

Athbhlian faoi shéan is faoi mhaise daoibh go léir – A very happy and tune-filled New Year to all.

It is with great delight that we start 2014 with the news that Niamh has been named as “Female Musician of the Year, 2014″ in the Live Ireland Music Awards, compiled by renowned and respected music critic Bill Margeson. A massive congratulations to all the other awardees, and it is a real pleasure for Niamh to be in such wonderful company. For a full look at the Live Ireland Awards, or ‘Livies’ please click here.

We will be updating the site over the next few days with new dates for 2014, so stay tuned!

It’s been a fantastic summer with wonderful audience reactions on all our tours. We had a lovely time preforming at lots of fabulous festivals in Portugal, Canada and Denmark, and we’re now gearing up for an intense tour of Germany in October.

Following that tour, Niamh will be working with composer Colm Ó Foghlú on a new Chamber piece for Concertina and String Quartet. This is a specially commissioned piece to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the “Evacuation” of the Blasket Islands in Co. Kerry. Called “Suantraí na hInise / Island Lullaby”, it will be premiered at the Blasket Centre on the day of the anniversary, (17th of November). A condensed version, called the Blasket Suite will be performed with the RTE Concert Orchestra later in November, as part of the Gathering. We will have more information on that closer to the time.

In the meantime, please check out the updated tour page, with all the latest dates.

This summer has been a very busy one with lots of gigs and travel, thankfully, and it is not set to calm any time soon! We’re just back from a very successful Portuguese tour where we played at six different festivals along with some other lovely venues, and we’re now about to set off to Canada for another tour.

The tour page has been updated so be sure to check it out, and if you’re near us on the road, please come say hi!

Hi folks,
It’s been a crazy few weeks since the launch of the new album “Cuz”, and over the last while the reviews have been piling in, all of them fantastic. In addition to the reviewers, the album is also going down very well with the public and sales are going well. Just taking a look at this month’s charts compiled by Irish Music Magazine, “Cuz” has made more Top Ten charts than any other album. I’m delighted with the fabulous reception the album is getting and delighted with the attention it is giving Cuz himself, as is his own family.

This, of course, leads to many more gigs and the band is facing in to a very busy summer. Check out the tour page for the latest, and keep checking back for updates, or feel free to subscribe.